Man gets jail in fatal hit-and-run

A Lansford man who fatally hit an 85-year-old woman with his pickup truck in the borough two years ago, then fled the scene, was sentenced Monday to up to 31/2 years in prison.

Rick Hunsicker Sr., 38, of 314 W. Front St., was handed a 21- to 42-month sentence in Carbon County Prison by county President Judge Roger N. Nanovic. Hunsicker pleaded guilty to a felony charge of being involved in an accident resulting in death or injury while not having a driver's license.

Police found no evidence Hunsicker was drinking at the time or speeding.

Nanovic rejected a request by Hunsicker's lawyer, Charles R. Witaconis, for a sentence with a 15-month minimum. Witaconis pointed out it was raining so heavily the night of the crash that streets flooded and Sverchek was crossing the road in the middle of the block.

"It was a tragic accident," Witaconis said.

He said Hunsicker panicked after hitting the woman and fled, but he turned himself in the next day after officers called him.

The day after the incident, officer Tim Wuttke of Nesquehoning found the pickup on Dock Street in Lansford. It was registered to Hunsicker's wife, whom police learned was working at the time of the crash.

Hunsicker said since the crash, he's had recurring nightmares about it.

"I gave myself a life sentence," he said.

But in handing down the sentence, Nanovic said he was troubled by Hunsicker's actions the night of the crash and after.

Hunsicker was charged with drunken driving in Maryland 11 months after the incident, and was sentenced to two years in jail. Hunsicker said he expects to be paroled in Maryland next month.

Nanovic also said he was bothered that Hunsicker left.

"The fact is you hit something, you thought it was a person and you left the scene," he said.